In a forgotten hillside village above the Beas Valley, a centuries-old Kathkuni house has been restored into one of the Himalayas’ most quietly radical places to stay — where slow living, sustainable design, and the mountains outside your window do the talking.
There is a road out of Naggar that most tourists never take. It winds uphill, past apple orchards heavy with fruit, past stone walls threaded with wildflowers, past village elders sitting in doorways carved from timber as old as their grandparents. Follow it far enough and you arrive at Chachogi — a tiny, largely overlooked hamlet in the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh — and at the foot of a four-storey Kathkuni house that stopped time somewhere around a hundred years ago, and has only recently agreed to let it start again.
This is ART Village Naggar. ART stands for Adaptive Rural Tourism, and the name is as deliberate as the philosophy behind it. This is not a resort that borrowed a Himalayan aesthetic. It is a genuine community-led project, rooted in the belief that India’s remote mountain villages deserve to be seen not as economical escapes, but as living repositories of culture, craft, and extraordinary natural beauty — places worth preserving, worth celebrating, and very much worth staying in.
The House Itself
The Kathkuni style of building is one of Himachal Pradesh’s most distinctive architectural traditions — and one of its most quietly brilliant. Walls are constructed from interlocking timber beams and local stone, using no nails and no masonry. The result is a structure that breathes with the mountain air, regulates temperature naturally, and is inherently resistant to earthquakes. It is an architecture born of deep intelligence about the land, refined over centuries by the people who have always lived here.
The house at ART Village is a restored century-old Kathkuni structure, brought back to life using solely wood, stone, and mud, with upcycled sustainable materials woven in where modern life demands it. The floors are warm timber. The walls are finished in crude, textured mud plaster that glows in the afternoon light. Fireplaces sit in the rooms. The bathrooms feature hot natural river-stone bathtubs. Every corner carries the honest beauty of materials that were made to last.
From the 360-degree verandahs that wrap around the upper floors, the views are — there is no better word — staggering. Snow peaks fill the horizon. The Beas Valley drops away below. On clear mornings, the silence is broken only by birdsong and the distant sound of cowbells drifting up from the village. The entire villa can accommodate up to 18 guests, making it ideal for families, groups of friends, or those wanting to take the whole place for themselves.
Staying Here
Life at ART Village moves at the pace the mountains set. Guests are invited to sit in the sun on the sprawling lawns, wander through the orchard, cook with farm-fresh local ingredients, or simply do nothing at all on the broad hanging verandahs while the Himalayas arrange themselves magnificently in the distance. The interiors — solid wood furniture, soothing earthen tones, upscaled local craftsmanship — make it genuinely difficult to leave the building.
The team at ART Village are as much a part of the experience as the house itself. This is a village-based co-design community, and the knowledge they carry — of traditional Kathkuni craftsmanship, of local herbs and cooking, of the stories passed down through Chachogi’s generations — is offered freely and generously to anyone who wants it.
Eating Here
Meals at ART Village are rooted in the seasons and the soil. Cooking sessions with fresh farm ingredients are one of the property’s most loved experiences — guests gather in the kitchen to try their hands at wood-fired pizzas, traditional Himachali dishes, and recipes that have fed families in this valley for centuries. The kitchen draws on what is growing, what is ripe, what the village has. In September, that means apples. In winter, Amaranth delicacies and golden ghee-laden sidus — the thick, fermented bread of the hills — warm you from the inside out.
What to See
Naggar Castle, one of the finest examples of Himachali-Rajput architecture in the region, is a short drive away — a six-hundred-year-old fort that now houses a small museum and commands extraordinary views of the valley. The Roerich Art Gallery, dedicated to the legendary Russian painter Nicholas Roerich who made Naggar his home, is within easy reach and deeply worth an afternoon.
The ART Village team arranges treks through the crisp mountain air to snow-covered meadows, forest walks along paths that most maps have never recorded, and night camping under a sky so thick with stars it feels almost theatrical. In April, there are hikes to Chandrakhani Pass and glacial lakes where local deities are said to bathe in the ice-cold water. In May, the valley turns festive and raucous. Every month here offers something specific, something unrepeatable.
For those inclined towards reflection over adventure, the open studio on site — where the team conducts ongoing research into local villages, crafts, antiques, and traditional architecture — is open to guests. Spend a morning exploring the archives, talking to the team, and understanding a corner of India that rarely makes it into travel guides. That, ultimately, is what ART Village is offering: a genuine encounter with a place, not just a view of it.
Why It Stays With You
The most remarkable thing about ART Village Naggar is not the house, though the house is beautiful. It is the conviction behind it. In a Himalayan tourism landscape increasingly dominated by glass-and-concrete resorts selling mountain views to people who never leave the infinity pool, ART Village is doing something genuinely different — restoring what was here, celebrating who has always been here, and inviting guests to be part of a story rather than merely passing through it.
Come for the Kathkuni architecture. Stay for the mountains. Leave with the quiet, certain knowledge that you have experienced something most travellers to Himachal Pradesh will never find.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Chachogi Village, Pulag Road Art Experience Sanctuary, Naggar, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh — 175130 Website: artvillagenaggar.com Booking: Available via Airbnb and Booking.com — search ART Village Naggar Kathkuni Villa
Getting There — Kullu–Manali Airport (KUU) at Bhuntar is approximately 24 miles away, around a 60–70 minute drive. Taxis are readily available from the airport. — Naggar town is the nearest local hub, approximately 1 hour by road from Chachogi village. Note: the road to the property can be bumpy — avoid travelling after dark if possible. — From Manali: approximately 20 km south, around 45 minutes by taxi or local bus to Naggar, followed by the village road up to Chachogi. — From Delhi: the nearest major railhead is Chandigarh or Ambala; from there, buses and taxis run regularly to Kullu–Manali. The full journey from Delhi is approximately 12–14 hours by road.
Accommodation: Entire 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom Kathkuni villa — sleeps up to 18 guests. Also available as individual suites. Best Time to Visit: October for apple season and golden light · February for snow and dramatic Himalayan views · April for Chandrakhani treks · May for local festivals. Pets: Welcome. Experiences: Village walks · Kathkuni architecture tours · Farm cooking sessions · Mountain treks · Star camping · Open studio access.
